Chapter I - The House of Benjamin the Jew: 1225–1267

Summary

In the year 1209 two events took place, neither of which was in itself of very great importance though both, in the end, proved to have far-reaching results. One of these events took place at Oxford, where three clerks were hanged for a murder in which they probably had no part, and the rest of the University, as an act of protest, left Oxford and betook themselves some to Cambridge and some to Reading. The other event took place a thousand miles away at Rome, where a young man called Francis Bernardone, with eleven companions, obtained access to Pope Innocent III and, kneeling before him, asked for permission to live according to the poverty and humility of the Gospels. Neither incident in itself would have appeared of much significance at the time. Migrations of masters and students were quite common occurrences in the early days of the Universities and often left no trace behind them, while young men who are dissatisfied with the state of the Church and think that they have found a better way of following Christ have appeared in all ages. But the two events of 1209 left a far more permanent mark on the history of the world than contemporaries might have anticipated, for the one was an important factor in the foundation of the University of Cambridge while the other marked the birth of the Order of Friars Minor.